Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Thursday, September 5, 2013 Some concluding remarks about the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts We have also noticed, perhaps surprisingly, that Luke portrays a very favorable impression of the Pharisees. The gulf between Pharisaic Judaism and Christian Judaism is not very wide. There are occasions when Pharisees are pictured as opposing Jesus and Christians, but the times when they are supportive are far more plentiful. When we consider that following the Jewish War (66-70 AD) the only two expressions of Judaism to survive were Pharisaic Judaism and Christian Judaism, this becomes even more interesting. Was one of Luke’s motives to attempt to bridge the gap between these two? Was Luke becoming aware of the increasing gulf that was emerging, and hoping to somehow prevent this erosion? If that was part of Luke’s motive he did not succeed. In the final years of the first century, Pharisaic Judaism and Christianity parted ways – and in the process, both changed. And Luke would have been disappointed at how quickly Christians forgot their roots and became hostile toward other Jews.